COMMENTS have been added to the discussion on cremation. One reader says that my remarks against cremation show extreme insensitivity to those in grief. Also in that thread, Hannon writes:

The idea of returning to the earth, of the body having a resting place, seems very natural to me. Burning a body outside of need (pestilence, etc.) seems barbaric.

Who is not given pause for thought when they pass by a cemetery? The tombstones set me to wonder about the lives of those people. Recently, near the “30 Rock” building in New York City, I was amazed to see an ensconced cemetery behind an iron fence, grassy and antiquated looking, a brilliant juxtaposition of personal human history as against the backdrop of modern skyscrapers.

Reverence for those who have passed, in some measure, is a reflection of reverence for life. Cremation is sanitary, convenient disposal. Like the crosses posted at roadside tragedies in Latin America, appropriate reminders of death invite us to reflect on our own mortality and how our loved ones are dear to us. Read More »

THE feminist domestic violence industry is now officially in jeopardy after the House failed to renew the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) at year’s end. This leaves a bill which is responsible for serious civil rights abuses hanging for the first time since it was adopted in 1994. The Senate last year authorized an expanded version that would have extended services to homosexuals, Native Americans and immigrants. But the House GOP did not bring it to the floor before its expiration.

Presumably some version of the noxious bill will be resurrected. In the meantime, expect many more crybaby stories about the evil “War on Women.” VAWA supporters have all but accused Congressmen of rape for their failure to move the totalitarian bill. See previous posts on VAWA here, here, here and here.

In its 17 years of operation, [VAWA] has done little or no good for real victims of domestic violence, while its funds have been used to fill feminist coffers and to lobby for feminist objectives and laws. Although every spending bill should be subject to rigorous auditing procedures in order to curb waste and fraud, VAWA has somehow ducked accountability for the nearly a billion dollars a year it doles out to radical feminist organizations. Read More »

“The only disadvantage of an honest heart is credulity,” wrote the British poet and statesman Sir Philip Sidney more than 400 years ago. Many American parents and teachers are honest and decent. But they are also credulous vis-à-vis authoritative-sounding assertions by education “experts,” “professionals,” textbook publishers, or the NEA. If they hadn’t been quite so agreeable over the past half century, then perhaps we would not be in the mess today that Charlotte Iserbyt traces in her book.

Charlotte Iserbyt is an American patriot and one of the most courageous women in America today. She knows that there is nothing innocent behind the radical changes made to American schools over the past half century. So does Lynn Stuter, who has written many essays abut this, available at her website. Read More »